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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Volume 19, No. 543, Saturday, April 21, 1832.
Author: Various
Release Date: March 14, 2004 [EBook #11567]
Language: English
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*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE ***
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THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND
INSTRUCTION.
VOL. XIX NO. 543.]
SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1832.
[PRICE 2d.
MELROSE ABBEY
(From a finished sketch, by a Correspondent.)
These venerable ruins stand upon the southern bank of the Tweed, in Roxburghshire. The domestic buildings of the
[pg 241]
monastery are entirely gone; but the remains of the church connected with, as seen in the above Engraving, are
described by Mr. Chambers1 as "the finest specimen of Gothic architecture and Gothic sculpture of which this country
(Scotland) can boast. By singular good fortune, Melrose is also one of the most entire, as it is the most beautiful, of all
the ecclesiastical ruins scattered throughout this reformed land. To say that it is beautiful, is to say nothing. It is
exquisitely—splendidly lovely. It is an object of infinite grace and immeasurable charm; it is fine in its general aspect and
in its minutest details; it is a study—a glory." We confess ourselves delighted with Mr. Chambers's well-directed
enthusiasm.
A page of interesting facts towards the history of the Abbey will be found appended to the "Recollections" of a recent
visit by one of our esteemed Correspondents, in The Mirror, vol. x., p. 445. In the present view, the ornate Gothic
style of the building is seen to advantage, but more especially the richness of the windows, and the niches above them:
the latter, from drawings made "early in the reign of King William," were originally filled with statues; and, connected
with the destruction of some of them, Mr. Chambers relates the following anecdote "told by the person who shows
Melrose:"
"On the eastern window of the church, there were formerly thirteen effigies, supposed to represent our Saviour and his
apostles. These, harmless and beautiful as they were, happened to provoke the wrath of a praying weaver in
Gattonside, who, in a moment of inspired zeal, went up one night by means of a ladder, and with a hammer and chisel,
knocked off the heads and limbs of the figures. Next morning he made no scruple to publish the transaction, observing,
with a great deal of exultation, to every person whom he met, that he had 'fairly stumpet thae vile paipist dirt nou!' The
people sometimes catch up a remarkable word when uttered on a remarkable occasion by one of their number, and
turn the utterer into ridicule, by attaching it to him as a nickname; and it is some consolation to think that this monster
was therefore treated with the sobriquet of 'Stumpie,' and of course carried it about with him to his grave."
The exquisite beauty and elaborate ornament of Melrose can, according to the entertaining work already quoted, be
told only in a volume of prose; but, as compression is the spirit of true poetry, we quote the following descriptive lines:
If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild but to flout the ruins gray.
When the broken arches are dark in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white;
When the cold light's uncertain shower
Streams on the ruin'd central tower;
When buttress and buttress, alternately,
Seem framed of ebon and ivory;
Wnen silver edges the imagery,
And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;
When distant Tweed is heard to rave,
And the howlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave,
Then go—but go alone the while—
Then view St. David's2 ruined pile;
And, home returning, soothly swear,
Was never scene so sad and fair.
By a steel-clench'd postern door,
They enter'd now the chancel tall;
The darken'd roof rose high aloof
On pillars, lofty, light, and small;
The key-stone, that lock'd each ribbed aisle,
Was a fleur-de-lys or a quatre-feuille;
The corbells3 were carved grotesque and grim;
And the pillars, with cluster'd shafts so trim,
With base and capital furnish'd around,
Seem'd bundles of lances which garlands had bound.
The moon on the east oriel shone,
Through slender shafts of shapely stone,
By foliated tracery combined;
Thou would'st have thought some fairy's hand
'Twixt poplars straight the osier wand
In many a freakish knot had twined;
Then framed a spell, when the work was done,
And changed the willow-wreaths to stone.4
[pg 242]
The monks of Melrose were caricatured for their sensuality at the Reformation. Their Abbey suffered in consequence;
for the condemnator, out of the ruins, built himself a house, which may still be seen near the church. "The regality," says
Mr. Chambers, "soon after passed into the hands of Lord Binning, an eminent lawyer, ancestor to the Earl of
Haddington; and about a century ago, the whole became the property of the Buccleuch family."
LACONICS.
(For the Mirror.)
The most important advantages we enjoy, and the greatest discoveries that science can boast, have proceeded from
men who have either seen little of the world, or have secluded themselves entirely for the purposes of study. Not only
those arts which are exclusively the result of calculation, such as navigation, mechanism, and others, but even
agriculture, may be said to derive its improvement, if not its origin, from the same source.
Where a cause is good, an appeal should be directed to the heart rather than the head: the application comes more
home, and reaches more forcibly, where it is the most necessary—the natural rather than the improved faculties of the
human understanding.
Common sense is looked upon as a vulgar quality, but nevertheless it is the only talisman to conduct us prosperously
through the world. The man of refined sense has been compared to one who carries about with him nothing but gold,
when he may be every moment in want of smaller change.
The grand cause of failure in most undertakings is the want of unanimity. This, however, we find is not wanting where
actual danger, as well as possible advantage may accrue to the parties concerned. It is whimsical enough that thieves
and other ruffians, while they bid open defiance to the laws, both of God and man, pay implicit obedience to their own.
Aristotle laid it down as a maxim "that all inquiry should begin with doubt." Whenever, then, we meet with mysteries
beyond our feeble comprehension, would it not be more rational to doubt the very faculty we are employing—the
capacity of our reason itself.
The most politic, because the most effectual way of governing in a family, is for the husband occasionally to lay aside his
supremacy; so in public, as well as private life, that king will be most popular who does not at all times exercise his full
prerogative.
It would appear that there is a great sympathy between the mind of man and falsehood: when we have a truth to tell, it
takes better, if conveyed in a fable; and the rage for novels shows, that we may not only divert extremely without a
syllable of truth, but truth is even compelled to borrow the habit of falsehood to secure itself an agreeable reception.
In our intercourse with others, we should endeavour to turn the conversation towards those subjects with which our
companions are professionally acquainted: thus we shall agreeably please as well as innocently flatter in affording them
the opportunity to shine; while we should acquire that knowledge which we could no where else obtain so well.
What an extraordinary method of reducing oneself to beggary is gambling! The man who has but little money in the
world, and knows not how to procure more without risking his life and character, must needs put it in the power of
fortune to take away what he has. Put the case in the opposite light, it is just as absurd: the man who has money to
spare, must needs make the experiment whether it may not become the property of another.
It is a mistake to suppose a great mind inattentive to trifles: its capacity and comprehension enable it to embrace every
thing.
The failing of vanity extends throughout all classes: the poor have but little time to bestow on their persons, and yet in
the selection of their clothes we find they prefer such as are of a flaring and gaudy colour.
Philosophy has not so much enabled men to overcome their weaknesses, as it has taught the art of concealing them
from the world.
That a little learning is dangerous is one of our surest maxims. If knowledge does not produce the effect of ameliorating
our imperfect condition, it were, without question, better let alone altogether; it is not to be made merely an appendix to
the mind, but must be incorporated and identified with it.
They who have experienced sorrow are the most capable of appreciating joy; so, those only who have been sick, feel
the full value of health.
By the expression "common people," is meant the man of rank as well as the more industrious peasant; for in our
estimate of men, the mind, and not the eye, is the most proper judge.
Some men are, of course, more original thinkers than others, but all, without exception, who hope to appear in print
[pg 243]
with any effect, must first be readers themselves. It was said by Dr. Johnson, that more than half an author's time was
occupied in reading what others had said concerning the subject he was himself writing upon.
Every man, in his more serious moments, must confess that he has done few things in the course of his life he would not
wish undone; and experience must have shown him that the things he most feared would have been better ihan those he
most prayed for.
Vanity is our dearest weakness, in more senses than one: a man will sacrifice every thing, and starve out all his other
inclinations to keep alive that one.
The man who trusts entirely to nature when he is sick, runs a great risk; but he who puts himself in the hands of a
physician runs a still greater: of the two, nature would seem the better nurse, for she will, at all events, act honestly, and
can have no possible interest in tampering with disease.
A great idea may be thus defined:—it gives us the perception of many others, and it discovers to us all at once what we
could only have arrived at by a course of reading or inquiry.
We are told to place no faith in appearances, yet it will be found a wiser course to judge from the human countenance
rather than the human voice: most men place a guard over their words and their actions, but very few can blind the
expression that is conveyed by the features.
To assist our fellow-creatures is the noblest privilege of mortality: it is, in some sort, forestalling the bounty of
Providence.
There is no doubt that memory, although it may be cultivated, is originally a gift of nature; so, also, application must be
regarded as a natural endowment; for there are some men, however well disposed, who can never bring themselves to
grapple closely with any thing.
It has been suggested that man has no real necessity for clothing. All other creatures are furnished with every necessary
for their existence, and it is improbable one nobler than them all should be left in a defective condition: there are some
nations, in severer climates than ours, who have no notion of clothing; and, even in civilized life, the most tender parts of
the body are constantly exposed, as the face, neck, &c.
It is the temper of a blade that must be the proof of a good sword, and not the gilding of the hilt or the richness of the
scabbard; so it is not his grandeur and possessions that make a man considerable, but his intrinsic merit.
F.
THE KNIGHT'S RETURN.
FROM THE GERMAN.
(For the Mirror.)
"Page, what sound mine ears is greeting,
Whence the lime-trees wave in pride?"
"'Tis, sir knight, the herds that bleating,
Wander o'er the mountain's side."
"Say, my page, what means this singing?
Notes so sad, some ill betide;"
"In the village, crowds are bringing
From the chapel, home a bride."
"Say then, why so slowly passes
Yon dark-rob'd and silent train?"
"From the saying bridal-masses,
Monks are coming o'er the plain."
"Speak then, why I now behold it;
Whence yon banner's milk-white hue?"
"Ask no further, they unfold it
To the bride an honour due."
"Say, my page, what means that writing
Graven on yon marble-stone?"
"'Tis the youth and maiden plighting
[pg 244]
Love to one, and one alone."
"How, my page, that name the dearest?
See, and true its meaning tell."
"Know, and tremble as thou hearest,
"'Twas for secret love she fell."
"What! my page, if thus 'tis written,
If for love she dar'd to die,
Bertha dead! if thus 'tis written,
As she perish'd, so will I."
H.
SCOTCH ECONOMY.
(To the Editor.)
The amusing letter of S.S. in No. 536, of The Mirror, has but so very recently met my eyes, that I have been obliged
unavoidably to allow some weeks to elapse ere I noticed it. Indeed, to advert to it at all, I should not have considered
necessary, but that your correspondent seems to imply a doubt as to the accuracy of my assertion, in the article
"Shavings," (vide No. 533, p. 83.) Permit me, for the satisfaction of your readers to state, that I was no "flying tourist,"
when the fact of a very considerable waste of fuel in Edinburgh, (fuel which would, I thought, sell in England, if not
wanted in Scotland,) came repeatedly, I may say, almost daily, under my own personal observation. A residence of two
years in Edinburgh (yes, it certainly was "the Scottish capital," for I had previously resided during a longer period in the
Irish one,) enabled me to state what I then beheld, with a scrutiny which certainly would not have been warranted by a
mere casual visit of two days, two weeks, or two months; that the circumstance should have irritated S.S. I cannot
consider any fault of mine; my statement was correct. The possibility of Irish labourers being employed to build in
Scotland, as they are very generally in England, does not seem to have occurred to your correspondent; I confess it did
to me, but considered, to mention it in my trifling "Domestic Hint," quite unnecessary, since, had their wastefulness been
hitherto unknown to their employers, it might henceforth, if they pleased "to take a hint," be by them materially checked.
In days when the complaint of poverty is universal, when the working classes find it difficult to carry on any employment
which shall bring them bread, and when thousands wander over the united kingdom with no apparent means of
subsistence, I did not imagine that a "Hint," as to a possible source of emolument (were it confined but to half a dozen
individuals) to the poor, would be considered a meet subject for ridicule. I said, or intended to say, if shavings and
loose chippings of wood are of little value for fuel in Scotland, they are acceptable in England; and why, if the
proprietors of new houses choose during their erection, to save the fuel they produce, and of which I repeat I have seen
vast quantities burnt, and bestow it as a charity on such persons as might think it worth acceptance for sale, "over the
Border;" why they should not do so, I have yet to learn.5 However, waiving this scheme, which S.S. may be inclined to
think rather Utopian, and conceding, that if Scotland needs not for fuel, her refuse chips and shavings, they would not
answer in that light as a marketable commodity in the sister country, still wood and wood-ashes have become of late
years, agents so valuable and important in chemistry, and other sciences and arts, as to furnish another, and all-sufficient
reason why no reckless destruction should be allowed of an article, every species of which may be rendered, under
some modification, of utility.
Respecting the well preserved eggs of Scotland; though S.S. is probably aware of the circumstance, yet some of your
readers may not be, their sale in England (and indeed I have understood America) brings her in no inconsiderable profit.
In this country they arrive, and I have my account from an eye-witness, in large deal boxes, most curiously packed,
relying solely on each other for support; since, set up perpendicularly on their ends, with no straw, heather, saw-dust, or
any other material to fill the interstices between them, the fate of every box of this fragile ware depends, during its
journey and unlading, on the safety or fracture of a single egg; but such is the nicety and compactness of their packing,
that rarely, if ever, an accident occurs.
M.L.B.
PRICE OF TEA.
(To the Editor.)
As I have been a subscriber to The Mirror from its commencement, and very frequently refer to its pages with much
pleasure and profit, I hope I may be allowed to correct a statement made in No. 541, p. 222, under the article Tea. It
is said that the profit of one pound to sell at 7s. is 2s. 2d.
s. d.
Thus, cost price 2 5
[pg 245]
Duty 2 5
Profit 2 2
----
7 0
In all retail houses of any respectability in the Tea trade, I am sure that Tea costing 2s. 5d. at the sale is never sold
above 6s. per lb. and in five out of six shops of the above description 5s. 4d. and 5s. 6d. is the utmost price demanded
for such Tea. I and my family have been in the trade, in one house, considerably more than half a century, and I can
assure you, that from 6d. to 8d. per lb. is the present retail profit upon Tea sold at the East India Company's sales,
under 3s. per lb.
S.
In reply to this note, the authenticity of which we do not question, we can only refer the writer to our distinct quotation
from "the evidence of Mr. Mills, a Tea Broker, before the House of Lords.' In our 15th volume, No. 414, p. 104, the
proportion of profit is differently stated from an article in the Quarterly Review. A pound of 11s.
Hyson
s. d.
Costs at the Company's Sale 4 4
King's Duty 4 4
----
8 8
Retailer's profit, brokerage, &c. 2 4
-----
11 0
We have often received from one of the most extensively dealing retail Tea-dealers in the metropolis, an assurance,
similar to that of our correspondent, S. so that we do not require the substantiation he proffers.—Ed. M.
The Naturalist.
GLEANINGS IN NATURAL HISTORY.
Observers of Nature seem to be just now appreciating the observation of the benevolent Gilbert White, of Selborne,
who lived and died in the last century: "that if stationary men would pay some attention to the districts on which they
reside, and would publish their thoughts respecting the objects that surround them, from such materials might be drawn
the most complete county histories." Accordingly, a little system of rural philosophy has been founded upon the best of
all bases, home-observation, and such books as have resulted from these labours, promise to make the study of Nature
more popular than will all the Zoological, Botanical, and Geological Societies of Europe. Among these works we
include the cheap reprint of the Natural History of Selborne; Mr. Rennie's delightful observations which are scattered
through the Zoological volumes of the Library of Entertaining Knowledge; but more especially the Journal of a
Naturalist, published by Mr. Leonard Knapp, about three years since, and stated by the author to have originated in
his admiration of Mr. White's Selborne. The volume before us is the result of a congenial feeling, and is written by
Edward Jesse, Esq., deputy surveyor of his majesty's parks, by means of which appointment he must have possessed
peculiar opportunities and facilities of observation, as is evident in the local recollections throughout his volume. Thus,
we find miscellaneous particulars of the Royal Parks and Forests, and from the writer's residence on the bank of the
Thames, (we conclude, near Bushy Park,) a few Maxims for an Angler. The whole is a very charming melange, with a
most discursive arrangement, it is true, but never falling into dulness, or tiring the reader with too minute detail. We
intend, therefore, to range through the volume, and gather a few of its most interesting gleanings to our garner.
Our author thinks he has discovered the use for the remarkable and, indeed, what appears disproportionate length, of
the
Claws of the Skylark.
"That they were not intended to enable the bird to search the earth for food, or to fix itself more securely on the
branches of trees, is evident, as they neither scratch the ground nor roost on trees. The lark makes its nest generally in
grass fields, where it is liable to be injured either by cattle grazing over it, or by the mower. In case of alarm from either
these or other causes, the parent birds remove their eggs, by means of their long claws, to a place of greater security;
and this transportation I have observed to be effected in a very short space of time. By placing a lark's egg, which is
rather large in proportion to the size of the bird, in the foot, and then drawing the claws over it, you will perceive that
they are of sufficient length to secure the egg firmly, and by this means the bird is enabled to convey its eggs to another
place, where she can sit upon and hatch them. When one of my mowers first told me that he had observed the fact, I
was somewhat disinclined to credit it; but I have since ascertained it beyond a doubt, and now mention it as another
strong proof of that order in the economy of Nature, by means of which this affectionate bird is enabled to secure its
forthcoming offspring. I call it affectionate, because few birds show a stronger attachment to their young."
[pg 246]
Instinct allied to reason.
Several interesting anecdotes are quoted to show that there is something more than mere instinct, which influences the
conduct of some animals. Bees and spiders afford many traits, but we quote the elephant and parrot:
"I was one day feeding the poor elephant (who was so barbarously put to death at Exeter 'Change) with potatoes,
which he took out of my hand. One of them, a round one, fell on the floor, just out of the reach of his proboscis. He
leaned against his wooden bar, put out his trunk, and could just touch the potato, but could not pick it up. After several
ineffectual efforts, he at last blew the potato against the opposite wall with sufficient force to make it rebound, and he
then, without difficulty, secured it. Now it is quite clear, I think, that instinct never taught the elephant to procure his
food in this manner; and it must, therefore, have been reason, or some intellectual faculty, which enabled him to be so
good a judge of cause and effect. Indeed, the reflecting power of some animals is quite extraordinary. I had a dog who
was much attached to me, and who, in consequence of his having been tied up on a Sunday morning, to prevent his
accompanying me to church, would conceal himself in good time on that day, and I was sure to find him either at the
entrance of the church, or if he could get in, under the place where I usually sat.
"I have been often much delighted with watching the manner in which some of the old bucks in Bushy Park contrive to
get the berries from the fine thorn-trees there. They will raise themselves on their hind legs, give a spring, entangle their
horns in the lower branches of the tree, give them one or two shakes, which make some of the berries full, and they will
then quietly pick them up.
"A strong proof of intellect was given in the case of Colonel O'Kelly's parrot. When the colonel and his parrot were at
Brighton, the bird was asked to sing; he answered 'I can't,' Another time he left off in the middle of a tune, and said, 'I
have forgot.' Colonel O'Kelly continued the tune for a few notes; the parrot took it up where the Colonel had left off.
The parrot took up the bottom of a lady's petticoat, and said 'What a pretty foot!' The parrot seeing the family at
breakfast said, 'Won't you give some breakfast to Poll?' The company teazed and mopped him a good deal; he said 'I
don't like it.'—(From a Memorandum found amongst the late Earl of Guildford's Papers.)"
Eels.
Several pages are devoted to the economy of these curious creatures, and as many points of their history are warmly
contested, Mr. Jesse's experience is valuable.
"That they do wander6 from one place to another is evident, as I am assured that they have been found in ponds in
Richmond Park, which had been previously cleaned out and mudded, and into which no water could run except from
the springs which supplied it.7 An annual migration of young eels takes place in the River Thames in the month of May,
and they have generally made their appearance at Kingston, in their way upwards, about the second week in that
month, and accident has so determined it, that, for several years together it was remarked that the 10th of May was the
day of what the fishermen call eel-fair; but they have been more irregular in their proceedings since the interruption of
the lock at Teddington. These young eels are about two inches in length, and they make their approach in one regular
and undeviating column of about five inches in breadth, and as thick together as it is possible for them to be. As the
procession generally lasts two or three days, and as they appear to move at the rate of nearly two miles and a half an
hour, some idea may be formed of their enormous number.
"Eels feed on almost all animal substances, whether dead or living. It is well known that they devour the young of all
water-fowl that are not too large for them. Mr. Bingley states, that he saw exposed for sale at Retford, in
Nottinghamshire, a quantity of eels that would have filled a couple of wheelbarrows, the whole of which had been taken
out of the body of a dead horse, thrown into a ditch near one of the adjacent villages; and a friend of mine saw the body
of a man taken out of the Serpentine River in Hyde Park, where it had been some time, and from which a large eel
crawled out. The winter retreat of eels is very curious. They not only get deep into the mud, but in Bushy Park, where
the mud in the ponds is not very deep, and what there is, is of a sandy nature, the eels make their way under the banks
of the ponds, and have been found knotted together in a large mass. Eels vary much in size in different waters. The
largest I ever caught was in Richmond Park, and it weighed five pounds, but some are stated to have been caught in
Ireland which weighed from fifteen to twenty pounds. Seven pounds is, I believe, no unusual size. The large ones are
extremely strong and muscular. Fishing one day at Pain's Hill, near Cobham, in Surrey, I hooked an eel amongst some
weeds, but before I could land him, he had so twisted a new strong double wire, to which the hook was fixed, that he
broke it and made his escape."
Sir Humphry Davy's opinions respecting eels are quoted from his Salmonia:8 Mr. Jesse adds:
"It is with considerable diffidence that one would venture to differ in opinion with Sir Humphry Davy, but I cannot help
remarking, that, as eels are now known to migrate from fresh water, as was shown in the case of the Richmond Park
ponds, this restless propensity may arise from their impatience of the greater degree of warmth in those ponds in the
month of May, and not from their wish to get into water still warmer, as suggested by Sir Humphry Davy. Very large
eels are certainly found in rivers, the Thames and Mole for instance, where I have seen them so that they must either
have remained in them, or have returned from the sea, which Sir H. Davy thinks they never do, though I should add,
[pg 247]
that the circumstance already related of so many large eels being seen dead or dying during a hot summer, near the
Nore, would appear to confirm his assertion. If eels are oviparous, as Sir Humphry Davy thinks they are, would not the
ova have been found, especially in the conger,—many of which are taken and brought to our markets, frequently of a
very large size? It does not appear, however, that any of the fringes along the air-bladder have ever arrived at such a
size and appearance as to have justified any one in the supposition that they were ovaria, though, as has been stated,
distinguished naturalists, from the time of Aristotle to the present moment, have been endeavouring to ascertain this fact.
Since the above was written, I have been shown ova in the lamprey, and what appeared to have been melt taken from a
conger eel, at a fishmonger's in Bond-street. These specimens were preserved by Mr. Yarrell, of Little Ryder-street, St.
James's, who had the kindness to open two eels, sent to him from Scotland, in my presence, and in which the fringes
were very perceptible, though they were without any ova. That ingenious and indefatigable naturalist is, however, of
opinion that eels are oviparous, though he failed in producing proof that the common eels were so.
"In further proof, however, of eels being viviparous, it may be added (if the argument of analogy applies in this case),
that the animalculæ of paste eels are decidedly viviparous. Mr. Bingley also, in his animal biography, says that eels are
viviparous. Blumenbach says, too, that 'according to the most correct observations they are certainly viviparous.' He
adds also, that, the eel is so tenacious of life, that its heart, when removed from the body, retains its irritability for forty
hours afterwards."
We are not inclined to attach very considerable importance to Mr. Bingley's experience, much as we admire his
entertaining Animal Biography: we believe him to be classed among book-naturalists, and he wrote this work many
years since.
(To be continued.)
QUEEN ANNE'S SPRING, NEAR ETON.
(From a Correspondent.)
The accompanying sketch represents a sequestered spot of sylvan shade whence rises a Spring which tradition
designates Queen Anne's. Here the limpid crystal flows in gentle, yet ceaseless streams, conveying "Health to the sick
and solace to the swain."
It has some claims to antiquity; and its merits have been appreciated by royalty. Queen Anne was the first august
personage who had recourse to it; in later times, Queen Charlotte for many years had the pure element conveyed to her
royal abode at Windsor, and in 1785, a stone, with a cipher and date, was placed there by her illustrious consort,
George III. This spring is situate at Chalvey, (a village between Eton and Salt Hill,) on the property of J. Mason, Esq.,
Cippenham. It was the observation of the esteemed and celebrated Dr. Heberdeen, that it but required a physician to
write a treatise on the water, to render it as efficacious as Malvern.
URANIA.
[pg 248]
Spirit Of The Public Journals.
STATE OF MAGIC IN EGYPT, BY AN EYE-WITNESS.
At the Consul General's table, in Egypt, in August, 1822, the conversation turned on the belief in magic; and the
Consul's Italian Staff propounded the following story, which seemed to have perfect possession of their best belief.
They said that a magician of great name was then in Cairo—I think a Mogrebine; and that he had been sent for to the
Consul's house, and put to the following proof:—A silver spoon had been lost, and he was invited to point out the thief.
On arriving, he sent for an Arab boy at hazard out of the street, and after various ceremonies, poured ink into the boy's
hand, into which the boy was to look. It was stated, that he asked the boy what he saw, and the boy answered, "I see a
little man,"—Tell him to bring a flag,—"Now he has brought a flag."—Tell him to bring another.—"Now he has
brought another."—Tell him to bring a third,—"Now he has brought it."—Tell him to bring a fourth.—"He has
brought it."—Tell him to bring the captain of them all.—"I see a great Sheik on horseback."—Tell him to bring the
man that stole the spoon.—"Now he has brought him."—What is he like?—"He is a Frangi, poor-looking and
mesquin." After which followed other points of personal description not remembered; but which drew from the Staff
the observation, that a European of exactly those qualities had been about the house. We expressed our desire to be
introduced to the magician, and the Consul gravely intimated it might hurt the prejudices of his wife, as being a Catholic;
to the great mirth of the beautiful Consuless when she was told of it, who, though a Catholic and an Italian, declared she
was the only person in the family that set all the magicians in Egypt at defiance.
Having some time afterwards established ourselves in a house of our own, on the edge of the garden of the Austrian
Consulate (as I remember by the token that a Turkish officer who had been taking his evening walk of meditation, very
gravely opened the window from the garden, put in first one leg of his huge trousers and then the other, and strode into
the room followed by his pipe-bearer, as being the shortest cut into the street; though I must do him the justice to say he
laughed and was very conversable, when I brought him up with a salam and a cup of coffee, by way of demonstrating
there was somebody in the house besides the Arab owner), we sent for the magician. I remember a well-dressed
personable man, of what, after the fashion of the nomenclature in the Chamber of Deputies, might be called the young
middle-age. He agreed to show us a specimen of his art, though I do not recollect that the nature of it was defined. He
fixed upon our little boy of seven years old to be his instrument; and I remember he talked some nonsense about
requiring an innocent agent, and how a woman might do as well, if she could plead the innocent presence of the unborn.
He dispatched a servant into the bazar, to procure frankincense and other things which he directed; and on their being
produced we all retired into a room, and closed the doors and windows. An earthen pot was placed in the middle of
the floor, containing fire, and the magician sat down by it. He placed the little boy before him, and poured ink into the
hollow of the boy's hand, and bid him look into it steadily. I think the mother rather quailed, at seeing her child in such
propinquity with "the Enemy;" but recovered herself on being exhorted to defy the devil and all his works. And the thing
was not entirely without danger from another quarter; for it was understood the Pasha had directed a special edict
against all dealing with familiar spirits; and the Pasha's edicts were not altogether to be trifled with, as we knew from the
mishap of a poor Indian servant, who was caught in the bazar in the fact of taking thirteen of the Pasha's tin piasters in
change for a dollar, when the political economy of Cairo had decreed that twelve were to be equal in public estimation,
and was immediately incarcerated in the place of skulls, or at least of heads, from which it is supposed he would have
come out shorn of his beard and the chin it grew from, if the Consular cocked hat and Abyssinian charger had not
proceeded at a gallop to the Court at Shubra, to claim him as a subject of the British crown; and much did poor Baloo
vow, that no earthly temptation should take him again to quit the gentle rule of the old Lady in Leadenhall-street, who,
though she pinches a Peishwa and mercilessly screws a renter when it suits her, it must be allowed has a reverent care
for the heads of all her lieges, and gives them a fair chance of going to their graves with the members nature had
bestowed on them.
Hisce positis, as the logicians say, the magician began his process. The boy was innocent of fear; being in fact a person
rather perplexed and imperfect in those parts of theology that should have caused him to feel alarm. His native nurse
first taught him to kiss his hand to the moon walking in brightness; which, being especially reprobated in the book of
Job, we persuaded him to renounce. We next found him making salams as he passed the fat old gentleman with an
elephant's head, and other foul idolatries bedaubed with rose-pink and butter, that show themselves on various
milestone-like appurtenances to an Indian road. After his visit to the Persian Gulph he leaned more towards
monotheism; and I once found him seated between two guns on the quarter-deck of an Arab frigate, in the midst of a
fry of devotees of little more than his own age, busily engaged in chanting canticles in praise of Mohammed the
"amber-ee." His early leaning towards the ugly gods of Hindoston, had made it a delicate matter to introduce him to our
Evil Principle; and the fact was, that when he afterwards saw the Freischutz in England, we had no means of making him
comprehend the nature of the crimson fiend, but by telling him he was a relation of his old elephant-headed friend
Gunputty. On the whole I imagine there never was a better subject to cope with a sorcerer; and when he asked the
cause of the immediate preparations we told him the man was going to show some feats of legerdemain such as he used
to see in India. The magician began by throwing grains of incense upon the fire, bowing with a seesaw motion and
repeating "Heyya hadji Capitân, Heyya hadji Capitân;" which being interpreted, if it was intended to have any
meaning, would appear to imply "Hurra, pilgrim Captain!" being, as I understood it at the time, an invocation by his
style and title, of the spirit he wished to see. When nothing came, he increased his zeal after the manner of a priest of
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Baal, and seemed determined that if the "Captain" was sleeping or on a journey, he should not be missed for want of
calling. One slight variorum reading I observed. Instead of saying to the boy "What do you see?" as had been reported
—he said "Do you see a little man?" which, if he had been accessible to fear or phantasy, was manifestly telling him
what he was to look for. The boy, however, resolutely declared he saw nothing; and the sorcerer continued his calls
upon his spirit. When in this manner curiosity had been roused to something like expectation, the boy suddenly
exclaimed, "I see something!"— Tremor occupat artis;—when he quashed it all by adding, "I see my nose." By the
dim light of the fire, he had succeeded in getting a glimpse of his own countenance reflected in the ink. The magician
doubled his exertions by way of carrying the thing off; but there was much less gravity in his audience afterwards; and at
last he was forced to declare that the spirit would not come, and the reason he believed was because we were
Christians. He said, however, if an Arab boy was substituted the spirit would come. A servant therefore was sent out to
bring a boy by the offer of a piastre, and one was soon produced. Whether there was any confederacy or not, I had no
precise means to ascertain; but I was inclined to think not. The Arab boy was trusted with the ink in place of the
European, and on the magician's asking him the leading question "Do you see a little man?" he took but one look and
answered "Yes." The orders then followed "Tell him to bring a flag." &c. to all of which, whether operated on by some
dread of refusing, or by the natural inclination of one rogue to help another, he duly answered that the thing was done. I
do not remember any further denoùment that there was; and so ended the magic of the magician of Grand Cairo.
Being disappointed in this experiment, we began to seek for the opportunity of making others, and offered a reward for
any person who would show us a specimen of imp or spirit. One man was produced, who was stated to be of
considerable fame. He said he would show me a spirit; but I must go out with him three nights running to a cross road at
midnight, and perform divers ceremonies and lustrations which he proceeded to describe. I believe he he had got an
inkling, that I intended to leave Cairo the next day. I told him, however, that I would cheerfully go through any
ceremonies he might propose. He next said, it would be necessary that I should repeat the name of the spirit I called
for, eleven thousand times; and this I assured him I would painfully perform. He then said, he was afraid at my age the
operation would be dangerous. I wonder whether the rogue meant that I was too young, or too old, or too middle-
aged; for I was exactly thirty-eight. Seeing that I only pressed him the more, he took his fee and walked off, intimating
that there was no use in doing these things with Frangis.
I saw another instance in Cairo, of the way in which a story accumulates by telling, and the degree in which even
sensible Europeans by long residence are induced to give into the beliefs they find around them. The conversation
turned one day on the power of charming serpents, supposed to be inherent in certain descendants of the Psylli. One of
the Consular Staff immediately declared, that a most remarkable instance of the fact had happened in the Consul-
General's own courtyard the day before. That one of those gifted men had come into the yard, and declared he knew
by his art that there were serpents in the stable; and that he had immediately gone and summoned forth two snakes of
the most poisonous kind, which he seized in his hands and brought, in the presence of the relator, to the Consular
threshold. Now it happened to me to see the whole of this scene. I was wandering about the Consul's court, gazing at
the curiosities scattered around, enough to have set up any European museum with an Egyptian branch, and particularly,
I remember, at a lame mummy's crutch, found with him in his coffin, on which it is possible the original owner hopped
away from the plague of frogs. An old rural Arab of respectable appearance was standing at the Consul's door, holding
in his hand the crooked stick which an Arab keeps to recover the halter of his camel if he happens to lose it while
mounted, and presenting altogether a parallel to a substantial yeoman with his riding-whip, come to town to do a little
justice business with the Mayor. A stable-keeper came and said, that two snakes had made their appearance in the
stable; on which the Arab, being no more in the habit of fearing such vermin than a European farmer of fearing rats,
proceeded towards the stable, and I followed him. Sure enough there were two snakes in dalliance in the horse's stall;
and my construction was, that it was the poor animals' St. Valentine. The Arab, however, ruthlessly smote them with his
gib stick, in a way that showed an exact comprehension of what would settle a snake; and brought them hanging by the
tails and still writhing with the remains of life, and laid them at the threshold of the house. I looked at the snakes, and felt
a strong persuasion that they were of a harmless kind; but whether they were or not, was of small moment as the Arab
treated them.
I remember in India once driving one of the snake-jugglers to discovery. He told the servants there were snakes in the
stable; and offered to produce one. He accordingly went, with piping and other ceremonies, and soon demonstrated a
goodly cobra de capello struggling by the tail. He secured this in his repertory of snakes, and said he thought there was
another; on which he went through the same operations again. Though he had been too quick for me on both occasions,
I offered him a rupee to produce a third, which he agreed to; and this time I saw the snake's head, struggling rather
oddly in his nether garments. He ran into the horse's stall, rushed forward with a shriek to distract attention, and then I
saw him jerk out a snake of some four feet long, and drag it backwards by the tip of the tail as if desperately afraid of it.
Knowing his snakes must be an exhaustible quantity, I proffered a second rupee for another, taking care to keep
between him and the snake-basket; which he declined. But on turning round and giving him a chance to communicate
with his receptacle, he quickly presented himself with the assurance that now he thought he knew where a serpent might
be lodged. The Indian servants all devoutly believed in his skill; but it is impossible not to be ashamed of Europeans,
who adorn their books with marks of similar gullibility.—Abridged from Tait's Edinburgh Mag.
Notes of a Reader
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RECREATIONS IN THE LAW.
Gentle reader, we are not about to direct your notice to the Temple Gardens, the olden feasts in our Law Halls—
through which men ate their way to eminence—nor to prove that looking to a Chancellorship is woolgathering—nor to
invite you to the shrubby groves of Lincoln's Inn, or to promenade with the spirit of BACON in Gray's Inn. All these
may be pleasurable occupations; but there is mirth in store in the study of the Law itself, which is not "dull and crabbed
as some fools (or knaves) suppose."
In a recent Mirror, (No. 540) this may have been made manifest to the reader in the Legal Rhymes, quoted by our
correspondent, W.A.R.;9 but lo! here is a volume of evidence in "The Cenveyancer's Guide;" a Poem, by John Crisp,
Esq., of Furnival's Inn; in which the art of Conveyancing is sung in Hudibrastic verse, and said in notes of pleasant
prose. Happy are we to see Mr. Crisp's volume in a third edition, since we opine from this success the bright moments
of relief which his Muse may have shed upon the viginti annorum lucubrutiones of thousands of students. We have
not space for quotations from the poem itself, in which Doe and Roe figure as heroes, with their occasional friend
Thomas Stiles. We can only say their movements are sung with the terseness and point which we so much admire in the
great originals, so as to make men acknowledge there is good in every thing. Our extracts are from the Introduction and
Notes. First is
A LEGAL GLEE.
"A woman having a settlement,
Married a man with none,
The question was, he being dead,
If that she had was gone.
Quoth Sir John Pratt, her settlement
Suspended did remain,
Living the husband—but him dead,
It doth revive again.
"CHORUS OF PUISNE JUDGES.
"Living the husband—but him dead,
It doth revive again."
A print of Westminster Hall, by Mosely, from a drawing made by Gravelot, who died in 1773, bears the following
versified inscription:—
"When fools fall out, for ev'ry flaw,
They run horn mad to go to law,
A hedge awry, a wrong plac'd gate,
Will serve to spend a whole estate.
Your case the lawyer says is good,
And justice cannot he withstood;
By tedious process from above,
From office they to office move,
Thro' pleas, demurrers, the dev'l and all,
At length they bring it to the Hall;
The dreadful hall by Rufus rais'd,
For lofty Gothick arches prais'd.
"The first of Term, the fatal day,
Doth various images convey;
First, from the courts with clam'rous bawl,
The criers their attornies call;
One of the gown discreet and wise,
By proper means his witness tries;
From Wreathock's gang, not right or laws,
H' assures his trembling client's cause.
This gnaws his haudkerchies, whilst that
Gives the kind ogling nymph his hat;
Here one in love with choristers,
Minds singing more than law affairs.
A Serjeant limping on behind,
Shews justice lame as well as blind.
To gain new clients some dispute,
Others protract an ancient suit,
Jargon and noise alone prevail,
Whilst sense and reason's sure to fail:
At Babel thus law terms begun,
And now at West——er go on."
At page 24, of the Poem, there is a happy allusion to the permanence or lasting of a limitation:
"But if the limitation's made
So long as cheating's us'd in trade,
Or vice prevails: 'tis then a fee,
As good as ever need to be:
For tho' 'tis base instead of pure,
Alas it ever will endure."
Upon this passage is the following confirmative note: "Cheating will always prevail, in defiance of all human laws, for it
cannot be avoided, but so long as contracts be suffered, many offences shall follow thereby."—(Doctor and Student,
c. 3.) In buying and selling, the law of nations connives at some cunning and overreaching in respect of the price. By the
civil law, a just price is said to be that, whereby neither the buyer nor seller is injured above one moiety of the true and
common value; and in this case the person injured shall not be relieved by rescinding the sale, for he must impute it to
his own imprudence and indiscretion.
The origin of Fee-tail estates:
"The expression, fee-tail, was borrowed from the feudists, among whom it signified any mutilated or
truncated inheritance from which the heirs general were cut off, being derived from the barbarous word
taliare to cut.—(2 Blac. Comm. 112.)
Fines and Recoveries (as fund and refund,) are like the poles, arctic and attractive. Of the latter is the following quid-
pro-quo anecdote:
"A physician of an acrimonious disposition, and having a thorough hatred of lawyers, was in company with
a barrister, and in the course of conversation, reproached the profession of the latter with the use of
phrases utterly unintelligible. 'For example,' said he, 'I never could understand what you lawyers mean by
docking an entail.' 'That is very likely,' answered the lawyer, 'but I will explain it to you; it is doing what
you doctors never consent to—suffering a recovery.'
Among the notes to Rights and Titles is the following:
"Master Mason, of Trinity College, sent his pupil to another of the fellows to borrow a book of him, who
told him, 'I am loth to lend books out of my chamber, but if it please thy tutor to come and rea...
